Twitter going public. Who expected it? Who doubted it? No matter which side of the fence you favored the question now is whether further commercialization of Twitter will be possible. Sure, we could take a look at Facebook. The longer that social networking giant stays on the open market the harder they are working to identify ways to keep the money rolling in. From paid ad placement, to post promotion and more, Facebook is pulling out all the stops. That being said, will Twitter be doing the same in order to keep its investors happy with the amount of income being generated?
First you have to know just how it is Twitter makes money. The primary answer is through selling ads. Just like Facebook, Twitter sells ad space to various businesses and entities. Unlike Facebook however Twitter ads are a great deal more targeted. Thanks to the great deal of tweeting that goes on in conjunction with sporting events, concerts and more, Twitter ads can be used to really tie the user into an experience in multiple ways. Imagine the twitter user who receives tweets from a sponsor during a football game encouraging them to visit a URL and vote on who they think will make the next touchdown or score the most points in the game…
Judging from Twitter users’ willingness to retweet and @mention content and other users it is not surprising that this social network has become so robust. In fact, this willingness to share content is helping to distinguish Twitter as a global news source. Add to the entire mix the fact that Twitter is working to cement its position as a key mobile player through the purchase of MoPub. According to Antonio Garcia, creator & builder of Facebook Exchange (FBX), this makes Twitter “the most interesting company in advertising right now.” Properly leveraged Twitter will be able to use MoPub to depend on using Twitter ids rather than cookies. Why is this important? Longevity. Cookies have a much shorter shelf life than Twitter ids.
The ability to track users’ preferences, likes, dislikes, searches, et al in such a manner means that Twitter ads could go from looking like some backyard newbie wrestler to being as pumped up and powerful as Scott Steiner (if you don’t get the reference Google him… trust us when we say the dude was HUGE). Does this mean that the Twitter platform itself will become even more heavily commercialized? The consensus here at Posse Social Media is that it may not happen. If Twitter can indeed integrate MoPub and leverage it properly, the Twitter ad system will essentially be able to remain the same but increase vastly in value. No doubt future investors are beginning to salivate already. I know that given the opportunity I certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to squirrel back a hundred shares or so when it hits.
Thoughts on whether Twitter will or should seek further opportunities to commercialize its platform? Sound off below in the comments!